Flooding closes roads in Northbrook

April 18, 2013|By Alexandra Chachkevitch | Tribune reporter

Crews are pumping out water in the 1900 block of Willow Road under a Union Pacific bridge on Thursday afternoon in Northbrook. The road closure, which lasted for most of the day, was one of the most significant ones in the area. (Alexandra Chachkevitch, Chicago Tribune)

Northbrook residents in the area have expressed their frustration over flooded basements and traffic due to road closures, which have mostly cleared up by Thursday afternoon.

The village reported getting about 3.7 inches of rain since Wednesday as of Thursday afternoon, according to Northbrook’s Assistant Public Works Director Matt Morrison.

He said the two most significant closures in the village were near the intersection of Willow and Shermer roads and on Founders Drive, between Kamp Drive and Willow Road.

“Just about everything now is open and passable,” Morrison said.

He said the majority of the calls throughout the day were related to yard and street flooding in the area. He said the town also resolved two small, isolated power outages that were related to the bad weather.

Morrison said to his knowledge there haven’t been any cars stuck in water because of the flooding in Northbrook.

Morrison said the village would continue working through the evening, depending on the weather and the need.

Residents in the area have reported being affected by the rain and road closures in different ways.

Northbrook resident Kevin Forrestal, 53, said the traffic still messed up his entire morning. He said it took him about twice as much time to get around the town while he was running his errands throughout the day.

“I had to jog around a bit but nothing major,” he said. “It’s been fine.”

Having experienced multiple floods while growing up in the area, Forrestal said he purposefully made sure his current house, where he has lived for the past 26 years, doesn’t have a basement.

“I’m not going through those nightmares ever again,” he said.

But that wasn’t the case for Ktrina Elliott, 49, of Northbrook, who stayed at home to monitor her basement for any flooding.

She said did not expect to get any water problems because last year's multiple rains did not affect her. But this time a laundry room in her basement did end up being flooded with about two inches of water, she said.

"I'm really aggravated," Elliott said, while walking one of her dogs near her house on Thursday afternoon. "My laundry is all soggy now."

But she said it could be worse. Elliott, who has lived in different houses in Northbrook in the last 25 years, said one of her house's basements was flooded once up to the ceiling. She said she lost about $10,000 because of the water damages then.

"At the end of it, I'm alive and upright," Elliott said optimistically. "It's a good day."

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